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Overview[]
Before heading on to the Southern Air Temple, Yong Ten plans on stopping at the village in the Tong province to further teach Rong Yan of his past lives.
Chapter 14: Xi Tong Village[]
Book 1: Air
Chapter 14: Xi Tong Village
The somnolent autumn sky was hues of salmon pink, lavender, and magenta, the sun was rising on the eastern side carrying a gentle breeze. The very last of the leaves that remained on any trees within a thousand-mile radius were stained red with a tinge of orange left behind. Piles of dead leaves that had fallen from the branches were circled around each tree as more leaves fell they were shifted around into the piles by the wind that carried them around each and every day.
Rong Yan sat in Jippo's saddle crossed-legged studying the map of the Earth Kingdom, they were a few miles from a small town that Yong Ten planned on stopping by before arriving at their final stop the Southern Air Temple also known as the Jongmu Air Temple named after the mountain range it was nestled in. Yong Ten yawned with heavy eyes, he was woken up by Rong Yan since they normally do rounds of steering Jippo when they plan long trips. They had been flying for a few hours now Yong Ten felt like it was time to give Jippo a break.
Yong Ten snapped the reins on Jippo gesturing to his sky bison to land. Rong Yan rolled up the map and tucked it into his satchel of supplies. Jippo roared, the villagers wearing green and teal clothing gazed up to see a sky bison flying in the sky looking in awe as a pretty big shadow surpassed over their heads. Peering below Jippo to see the village down under Yong Ten steered Jippo and landed near the stables. Yong Ten yawned once more before standing on Jippo's head and stretching letting out a groan scratching his butt and hopping off Jippo, while Rong Yan slid off Jippo's flat tail.
Rong Yan and Yong Ten, flying on Jippo.
The city gates just a few yards from the stables, Rong Yan could see a busy village with people wandering around and children playing with toys or with each other running around squealing. Yong Ten approaches an old man wearing a seaweed green tunic wrinkled and stained with who knows what, he wore juniper green slacks and stitched cedar clog. A white tuft under his chin, green eyes and a white with strands of grey queue with a braid reaching the middle of his back.
"Fifty silvers for the day, you can put him over in that pen," said the stable hand pointing at the large pen with two bales of hay.
Yong Ten nodded the stablehand attempting to make more conversation with the old airbender asked, "What brings an airbender to these parts? Stopping by before heading to the Jongmu Air Temple I presume?"
"Precisely, I'm escorting my apprentice to the air temple to introduce him to the council of elders and teach him airbending. Would you like to meet him?" Yong Ten suggested glancing back at Rong Yan with his right arm pointing at a tall Fire Nation boy in a tunic and spaulders colored fire red, trousers, and boots of a crimson color, he wore a red zuowei hat which was two main parts the cylinder cap and the head cloth, which were accented with crimson, a small yellow calcite adorned on the front side the hat and a yellow jeongja at the top of the zuowei cap.
The stablehand took one peep at the man and squeal he stumbled because he couldn't contain his excitement he had recognized the teenager and dropped to his knees kowtowing the Avatar. Rong Yan found the stablehand's reaction pretty funny that he chuckled, picking at his ear with pinky and wiping whatever he found on Jippo's fur. He stood up grabbing a broom and began to sweep the floor then lead Yong Ten to the pens.
The stable keeper, cleaning droppings, and what not.
Rong Yan turns around taking the first few steps into the wall-less settlement. A bunch of smaller homes made of white brick stones cut into asymmetrical shapes while the base foundation bricks were shaped symmetrical to keep a rectangular shape. The roofs were decorated with green stones covering the wooden arch from weather damage. Some homes had rice paper windows while others like shacks did not have any. He was more interested in the bazaar of the town, the village was named after the founder of the settlement. In the middle of the marketplace stood the statue of Avatar Xi Tong the founder of the village. The statue was carved out of mass amount of verdite, at the bottom of the statue was the name of the artist carved on it.
The statue was about ten feet tall, the man carved into the greenish mineral had a strong jawline, short hair, a small scruffy beard on his head he wore a hair band called a sangtuwan holding his small top knot a small earth kingdom insignia was knitted into the hairband. A small pin held the sangtuwan in place, he wore a tunic and trousers and also used fine leather boots. The tunic had earth kingdom insignias as the pattern, in a vertical line three on the left and three on the right. Rong Yan walked up to the statue as if hearing whispering coming from it he stood staring into the eyes of the statue. The eyes of the statue suddenly sparkled and he was taken aback and a little startled gasping. There was no writing other than the signature of the sculptor on the bottom of it. He muttered the name to himself, "Avatar Xi Tong."
The statue of Avatar Xi Tong.
Behind the statue of Xi Tong stood a walled estate on the doors was the painting of an albatross crane. The front wall had a plaque hanging with a summary of the estate written in the Earth Kingdom language, he walked up to the plaque and began to read it: "Here lies the estate of the Tong family, in 1102 BG, Avatar Xi Tong with the help of his friends had built this estate as a summer home where Xi and his family spent their summers while Regent Lord Baojun ran the northern kingdom. In his later years, he stepped down from the throne and spent his last days here. In the next few years after 1102 BG, travelers had come to build their houses here surrounding the Tong family estate, forming the village and naming it after the Avatar who lived here."
Tong family estate in Xi Tong village, Tong province, Omashu territory.
Inside the manor of his past life was a small building that housed the museum of Avatar Xi Tong, it was the only part of the estate lands that were open to the public the rest of the property was privately owned by the Tong family. His twin daughters had opened up the museum after his namesake. They held tours that took them around the path and presented the tourists of the manor from a distance and led them to the museum. Yong Ten met up with Rong Yan, and a group of tourists were lining up at the doors. A tour guide had opened the gates of the Tong estate and began collection of paying fees to enter the tour of the museum. Yong Ten and Rong Yan had walked up to the man and had paid their fees to be a part of the tour.
Once inside they had seen trees that dotted the property, lush vegetation and a gargantuan home over yonder. The home's exterior was painted yellow, the accents were a golden yellow hue, the guards who patrol around wore surcoats over their chainmail armor. The insignia of the Tong family was nestled on the tabard an albatross crane.
"The crest of the Tong family has an albatross crane on it which symbolizes the spirits' creation, innocence, justice, and longevity. Things that Avatar Xi valued, he was a spiritual man, he valued family, innocence, and justice and lived a long life," the tour guide began. He leads the tour group a few more steps before five Tong family guards arrived and choreographed some formations before the men left.
"These men are guards of the Tong family, once supervised by Xi's childhood friend a non-bender named Zhang Wei. Zhang Wei trained Avatar Xi in hand to hand combat if he was ever chi blocked," he said pointing towards the house again he mentioned, "Avatar Xi's descendants reside here as we speak. Governor Jie Tong governs the now renamed Tong province of the Qiangda Kingdom. He married a woman named Jing, who is the daughter of a nobleman/businessman in the Upper Ring. Their daughter Yan Tong recently married a nobleman, while their last two children Wei and Min Tong still live with them."
"The Tong family dates back to the time of the 35th Earth King Zhuanxu of the Tong dynasty who ruled the Tong Kingdom until his death. He was succeeded by his son the 36th Earth King Ku of the Tong Dynasty, and he too was succeeded by his only son the 37th Earth King Xi of the Tong dynasty also known as the Avatar. The family resided in the Earth King's palace up until Xi stepped down and appointed Baojun as regent lord until Qiangda Avanindra was of age. Here is where Bao and Bo spent their summers when Xi died Hua remained until Bo's children moved in and this estate was given to the Tong family members throughout generations until Jie received it," he recalled.
The museum of the Tong family open to the public.
"Would you look at that, my past life was an Earth King and a nobleman, Yong Ten," Rong Yan boasted.
"Then he turned in a goofy kid," Yong Ten responded chuckling raining down on Rong Yan's parade.
The tour guide gestured everyone in the crowd to follow him to the right where the museum doors were opened by a doorman who stood in position and bowed to the crowd. Everyone had walked inside the big wooden building, inside were relics of the Tong family and relics that Xi used during his life.
They walked towards the first relic that belongs to Xi, in front of them was his sangtuwan and the pin in the inside of the hairband. "This is the sangtuwan and pin that Avatar Xi wore on his head, he styled his hair into a short topknot. The sangtuwan and the pin are both made of pure gold, if you look at the design of the band it is the insignia of the Ba Sing Se territory, inside of the band is written a small message from his father. Which says, 'Happy birthday my son, you are the joy in my life, you are innocent and fair and I know someday you will make a great Earth King.'; he was gifted this hairband on his twelfth birthday," the tour guide stated.
The crowd was led to a valet-stand that displayed Xi Tong's corn yellow tunic with medallion gold accents with three vertical Earth Kingdom insignias on both the left and right side of the front of the tunic. His trousers were also corn yellow color and his fine leather boots were more of a clay brown color.
"The clothing on display is the original outfit Avatar Xi wore during his adult and elderly life. It is theorized that these pieces of Xi Tong's outfit were to be worn by the current Avatar they would be considered the medium to allow the Avatar access to commune with Avatar Xi Tong," the tour guide claimed.
They walked to the next stand which held on a pillow a replica of the Earth King's crown and right next to it on the right was another valet-stand that held golden robes on display, "This is the replica of the Earth King's crown worn by Zhuanxu, Ku and Xi of the Tong Dynasty, the crown here is different in design than the one that the Qiangdian Earth King Qiang Zhen currently wears. The next stand here is holding his royal robes on display, made entirely of expensive silk materials dyed in gold pigments," the tour guide continued.
They were then led into a walk-in wardrobe that belonged to the Tong family, inside where various robes, kirtles, dresses, and chitons worn by the various descendants of the Tong family. Shoes were strewn about on display, headbands, headpieces and headdresses like fengguan were on display as well. In the next room were weapons that were used by the descendants of the Tong family, some were in the military and one of them was a general. Yong Ten followed the group while Rong Yan stayed behind to look at Xi's clothing on display.
He looked side to side see if anyone was watching him. He examined the clothing further and gently grabbed the clothes, for a few seconds nothing happened then suddenly he blacks out. He receives a flashback, it's Xi Tong in the Avatar State triggered by anger his surroundings are the Earth King's palace inside Ba Sing Se. The royal guards were terrified and had run away but one man stood his ground a much older man in his seventies stood his ground. He wore the outfit of an eastern military general he too was angered by Xi Tong.
At the same time, while he was in this deep state he was suddenly interrupted by the tour guide who yelled at him, "Hey kid! No touching the things on display! Guards!"
Jolted from the deep state he was in the man ran up to him and smacked his hand he claimed, "I apologize but I was given a vision into that past of Xi Tong in the Avatar State."
"Yeah and I got a vision that I should kick you out!" he quipped, the crowd cheered Yong Ten intervened during the confrontation.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"This kid was clutching onto Xi Tong's tunic putting his dirty hands on it!" the tour guide addressed. Rong Yan looked down at Yong Ten and spoke, "I thought about his theory about how Xi's clothes could be used as a medium to communicate my past life. I tried it out just by gently grabbing it and received a vision of Avatar Xi Tong in the Avatar State in anger, he's in the palace and was looking down at an earthbender who held a scepter in his hand. I witnessed their conversation," Rong Yan explained to Yong Ten.
The tour guide was within earshot and heard the impossible claim the young man was making. He was insouciant to the claims, "That is preposterous, Avatar Xi Tong died hundreds of years ago, you couldn't possibly witness those events," he interjected.
"Regent Lord Baojun refused to step down, his tyrannical behavior was caught on by Avatar Xi, and he had also kicked out Xi's mother out of the palace. Xi died at the age of 93, and he knew how to bend the energy inside himself," he reasoned with the tour guide.
"Right you had to read that inside a book before coming here. Nice try, kid," the tour guide disagreed.
"How did Xi Tong learn to bend the energy inside himself then?" he questioned Rong Yan, "A lion turtle summoned him and he meditated and spoke to his past lives Avatar Arrluk had no idea where he was but Avatar Mun Jin identified the environment and told Avatar Xi Tong that he was on the back of a lion turtle and suggested that he find the head so he may speak to the lion turtle. He didn't kill Baojun, he removed Baojun's ability to earthbend and years later, Baojun killed himself he didn't die of illness," Rong Yan stated.
The crowd remained nonchalant while the tour guide was flabbergasted, "How did you know those were the exact names of the past lives of Xi Tong? No, Baojun, died of illness not suicide," he argued.
"Because I'm Avatar, this is my first time meeting Xi Tong but when I grasped the clothing instantly knew everything that happened in my past life. Baojun's cause of death was suicide," Rong Yan assured the chaperon.
Yong Ten had added to the conversation, "If I may interrupt your argument with my student, I'd like to add to his claim that it is indeed a fact. This is Avatar Rong Yan, the Fire Nation born Avatar after Avatar Ku Tei of the Earth Kingdom. I planned to make a visit here so that he could learn more about his past lives. The Avatar is a curious one, so on my behalf of the Avatar I apologize and if you want us to leave we will."
Everyone gasped in shock and awe that they stood in the presence of the Avatar, the guide looked at them both and made the decision, "Your apology is accepted, I'd like to offer you two something after the tour is over. If you don't mind."
Senlin's horse, drinking at a nearby river.
Meanwhile, somewhere within the Qiangda Kingdom, the sounds of plat plats are being heard as the ostrich horse's feet rush through the land Senlin is riding while slouched wearing a straw hat to cover his head from the sun, heading northwest out of the territory. He was in the state of Chu but near the border between the two territories of the Earth Kingdom. Once he reaches Omashu territory he'll be a free man, and no longer have to watch his back as much. Although at this point he has grown accustomed to doing so. A week ago, he had received a map of a location by an arctic hare owl which had a special lightweight case strapped to the abdomen of the bird. The map had indicated the location of Admiral Palartok's camp within the Taku district which was the border district of the Oma Kingdom.
The Earth Kingdom had been in a prolonged cold civil war that has not ended in thousands of years. At this point in history, they didn't hate each other enough to attack each other. Nerves have been pinched during the previous war while the two territories united, but the previous Earth King did not see fit to put his men into another war. Provinces over the years have shifted politically and sometimes were taken by the invading territory. Small skirmishes have ended in a matter of days between border states but nothing too major to report about. Criminals who were wanted on one side could live a free life on the other side unless they were deemed too dangerous and were often wanted by both kingdoms.
The states of Taku and Chu have been quite peaceful for the past twenty-nine years since the end of the Thirty Year War that ravaged the states and those surrounding them. Peaceful relations have gone between both although they can't get the other state to agree on supporting the opposite king. But remain neutral on attacking each other any time soon. Only bordering states had checkpoints it's how both territories kept things under control during times or unrest or when identifying criminals.
He reached the border checkpoint guarded by several troops from the Chu district. The banners that were displayed had the Ba Sing Se insignia painted on them the flag was a light green color. The men wore dark green plate armor with banana yellow accents, they had a jeong on the top of their helmets made of pure gold and the light green tuft of faux fur coming out of it. Some stood in a formal stance watching for trouble others strolled around on ostrich horses. The roofs of the checkpoints stood archers.
"Identification papers, please," the approaching captain requested to Senlin sticking out his hand.
Senlin reached into his pocket handing his identification documents to the military captain, Senlin focused on eyeing the captain and tried his best to remain nonchalant. Still reading the documents the man asks him, "Where are you coming from? And do you have any business you have in the Omashu territory?"
"State of Gansu and I'm visiting my brother Tien in Taku city, sir," Senlin lied taking the documents back from the military captain who nods in approval and gestures him to continue past the checkpoint.
"Gansu's a week's trip from here, I hope you're making frequent breaks. You're free to go, enjoy Taku city," the man comments.
Senlin snaps the reins on his ostrich horse replying with a squawk it sprints down the checkpoint and into the state of Taku. He saw another checkpoint on the other side which had Oma Kingdom military from the state of Taku. He had to go through the process again before being let go further into the province. A few hours later, he reaches a small camp bringing his ostrich horse to a stop he takes a large chug of his waterskin and hops off the ostrich horse. The camp was medium-sized it housed dark blue eleven tents a few had holes on them others were repairs with patches, five on each side, straight down the middle was a larger dark blue tent with the Northern Water Tribe insignia on it. A campfire had been recently put out the smoldering coals releasing a tinge of smoke into the air before dissipating into the autumn winds. There were pikes with the heads of recently slain animals to intimidate bandits and the like. A sign outside written in blood warned intruders to stay away in the Earth Kingdom tongue. Senlin had known he finally reached Palartok's camp.
This camp was important to him because it was the platoon led by his old friend Palartok a former admiral of the Northern Water Tribe during the Thirty Year War, this platoon of about 35 veterans. One man walked out of his tent and had turned his head to look at who was approaching their camp the man had recognized the older man in Earth Kingdom clothing to be Senlin.
Water Tribe rebel camp, that Senlin stopped at to find Palartok.
"Hey guys, Senlin's here!" he cheered on, some voices from inside other tents repeated the name in a questionable tone. Other men had opened the flaps of their tents peeping outside to see the stranger. No strangers to reunions they walked and crawled out of their tents pacing toward Senlin surrounding him giving handshakes, hugs, and smiles.
Admiral Palartok as he was known to the Northern rebels was sort of a tall man standing over six feet tall although shorter than Senlin by a few inches he was of average weight but his body had been toned due to a strict diet he had been following for years. His calves were large indicating he ran very often, his arms were pretty sizable as well, he was fit for a man in his late 40s. He had a diamond-shaped face, angular jaw and high cheekbones with a laugh line wrinkles and forehead wrinkles. His skin was a light coffee brown tone, his hair was midnight black with a few strands of grayed hair, his eyes were an indigo blue color. He wore light clothing it was only the autumn season there was no reason to wear fur coats here in the western part of the Earth Kingdom, they had a few months before the air would drop in temperature and a chill will set in requiring you to wear a fur coat. The warmest nights during the winter are in Si Wong provincial territories of the Qiangda Kingdom. Navy and indigo blues matched together created his outfit, his tunic and slacks used these colors, he wore white hand wraps and his arctic penguin seal blubber boots were a berry blue color dark with a tinge of purple but still blue.
Senlin had jerked his head up gazing at his old friend swaggered over to him with every step once they were face to face they had a staredown before breaking it to a chortle between the two and hugged it out. Palartok had led Senlin into his tent which was the largest of the camp of course, and the men returned to what they had been tending to before Senlin had arrived. One of them had begun to start a fire to cook himself a fish he caught earlier.
He set his bowl of seaweed soup of the table where the map laid upon aside, running his hands flat across the map to iron out any wrinkles on the map-making sure not to ruin it with a crease. Palartok gestured Senlin to sit down across from him, "I'm glad you received a copy of our map with the location of my camp," Palartok began.
"How did you know I escaped?" Senlin questioned him with a confused expression on his face.
"News gets around, general. I tracked you to the little village outside of Ba Sing Se in the Pingyao district..," Palartok said before being interrupted, "Yeah and you're rebels attacked the town, which by the way I had to defend to save those people," Senlin interrupted.
"They were deserters I hope the Pingyao militia killed them, good riddance," Palartok spoke.
Palartok inside, with several men minding their own business.
"I sent a scout to report your location to me, I'm glad they led you toward this direction. The arctic hare owl belonged to those deserters, it'll suit us well," Palartok added while grabbing his a wooden bowl and waterbending a global of the stew into the bowl and handing it to Senlin.
Senlin grabbed the bowl of stew and was then handed a wooden spoon to dig in thanking Palartok for the meal, "Thanks."
"My scouts have tracked the Avatar to the city of Taku here in state of Taku, he put up quite the show. They angered him and he killed the squad that attacked Taku, my scout being the only one who didn't get involved watched the whole thing. After that they fled, trail runs cold," Palartok reported.
"They? Who else is traveling with the Ava-" asked Senlin before being interrupted a young warrior opened the flap to Palartok's tent saluting both Palartok and Senlin.
"The scouting party has returned, Admiral a new sighting of the Avatar, he's been seen in the province of West Jurong heading southwest. We believe he's traveling with an Air Nomad, we're guessing they're heading toward the state of Tong," the scout stated before being gestured to leave the tent so that Palartok and Senlin can discuss alone.
"Tong, eh? It'll take us a fortnight to reach Tong. He mentioned that the Avatar is traveling with an Air Nomad I'm guessing they're making a pit stop in Hou Tian before heading off to the Jongmu Air Temple," Senlin guessed looking at Palartok.
"No time for talk I'm going to tell the men to break camp we're heading out for Tong this afternoon," Palartok said.
Senlin was concerned about the military checkpoints he asked Palartok, "What about the checkpoints on the border states?"
"There are no checkpoints in the Oma Kingdom, they're pretending there is no war that's why this is free man's land. Only checkpoints are on the territory border states," Palartok replied, then reciprocated with a question, "You mean there are more checkpoints within Ba Sing Se lands?"
"Aye. Every state has four checkpoints that I'm aware of, recently built by Ta Po before I killed him," Senlin answered.
"I'm sending the arctic hare owl with a message to the lieutenant who's holding his men over in the province of Anlu. They're only about a hundred miles from the capital city of Baoding, apparently, they took a small village and have been occupying it for about a month. You know how Arluq is," Palartok said. Senlin remembering about the short stocky warrior from back in the days chuckling about him.
"He doesn't like loose ends, what'd he do? Have them kill each other?" chuckled Senlin.
"No, but he ordered his men to do it. No escapees means no soldiers coming to reclaim the village. We have to remain hidden if we want the insurrection to be successful," stated Palartok.
"How many squads are hiding here in the Omashu territory?" asked Senlin.
"About four, you got mine here in Taku, Arluq's in Anlu, we got some in Tanghai and Yang. We had men in the province of Huangpu but haven't heard from them since we started this whole operation. They either deserted or they're dead, Huangpu and Chengdu aren't so safe as we speak they've been having skirmishes back and forth," recalled Palartok.
Palartok exited the tent with Senlin right behind him he announced to the men, "Alright men, time to break camp we're heading to the state of Anlu and meeting up with Lieutenant Arluq. From there we're heading to the Southern Air Temple in the south, we're going to kill the Avatar and no pansy airbenders are going to stop us!"
The men cheered after having their morale boosted, after the man closest to the fire finished his cooked fish he bent water out of his waterskin and whipped it at the fire turning it off. Leaving it smoking once again before Senlin had arrived in camp. After two hours the sun was beginning to set and the men had packed everything. Polar bear dogs carried tents and supplies while the men were trooped in unison heading southwest towards Anlu.
Governor Jie Tong was being escorted by two of his estate guards.
Back in Tong Village, the tour was over and the tour guide approached Rong Yan and Yong Ten, "Now that that's over you had said you were the reincarnation of Avatar Xi Tong. I had sent word to the guard captain to escort the governor over here," said the tour guide.
They stood outside of the museum in front of the fences that separated the tour grounds from the actual estate. Yards over yonder was the lush garden grounds of the estate, a pond was seen to the far southern corner of the estate. A man in lavish robes was being escorted towards Rong Yan and Yong Ten, a guard accompanied them as well.
The man looked to be in his early fifties his face was pretty young for someone in his fifties he had looked more like he was in mid-forties. The skincare that nobles had was of an extremely high caliber and the prices were exorbitant. He wore a white ji pa with the Omashu insignia detailed in gold paint on his head identifying the man to be spiritual, the robes were made of spider snake silk which was an incredibly rare and expensive material since not all spider snakes could produce silk. They were often bred by breeders just in case and only the wealthiest of nobles around the world could afford to buy clothing made of this material. The robes accents that outlined the entirety of the regalia he wore were also painted with real gold pigments. He wore gold rings on his fingers with rare gemstones sitting on the bands. His shoes were made of the very same spider silk. The man was of fair skin, brown eyes, short black hair, and a fu manchu mustache.
He met up with Rong Yan and Yong Ten bowing to them and then greeted them, "Salutations Avatar Rong Yan, and Monk Yong Ten I am Governor Jie Tong of the Tong district. One of my employees sent word to me after learning about who you are."
"Again I'd like to apologize on behalf of my student for touching your family relics," Yong Ten apologized, glancing at Rong Yan.
"Apology accepted no worries, I am honored that you would visit our museum, young Avatar," Jie Tong beamed.
"The Novice-Master brought me here to learn more about my past life Xi Tong, he thinks that it is important to learn about my past lives and learn from their decisions and consequences if I ever like to be a great and effective Avatar," Rong Yan broke in.
"Your guide had a theory about clothing or relics once worn by previous Avatars having a sliver of spiritual energy that could allow a current or future Avatar to link with the past life connected to the item," he explained to Jie.
"All those things you had claimed to the guide were actually true, these are stories passed down through generations of our family. To never forget about the notable members who have sacrificed everything for the family name," admitted governor Jie.
"Please I invite you to partake in dinner and rest here for the evening before heading off tomorrow to your next destination," suggested Jie Tong to the both of them.
Yong Ten bowed to Governor Jie Tong and accepted the offer, Rong Yan nodded and bowed to the governor in respect. The guard on the museum side opened the fence gate leading into the actual area of the estate. Governor Jie along with the two guards escorted Rong Yan and Yong Ten down the path to the guest house where they will remain for the night to slumber.
"This is the guest house where you will be staying in, Avatar. I hope it is to your tastes," bubbled governor Jie Tong.
"Follow me to my spiritual shrine just behind my manor," he pondered to them, they took a short trip to the shrine.
It was a medium-sized rotunda gazebo made of stone foundation and stone supports, the roof was made of wood and stained glass. The windows and slide doors were covered with rice paper. The path leading to the gazebo had octagonal stone steps, Jie Tong had opened the door to the gazebo. It looked bigger inside the stone floor was extremely smooth. The back wall of the gazebo was a mosaic mural it had earthbenders on the display two men on the left, a woman in the center, and one man and a woman on the right. On the sides were stone tablets that had names of Tong ancestors carved into the stone tablets. An incense tray hung overhead clinging from the ceiling an albatross crane statuette sat on the edge of the incense tray. Behind him was a small stone shelf with a supply of incense sticks, and sage.
The mural that Governor Jie Tong prayed to everyday. Avatar Xi Tong was in the middle of the Avatars the Tongs revered. The Avatars on displayed were Avatar Duryaja Zhou, Giralal, Xi Tong, Bhudev and Avani. All Earth Kingdom Avatars.
Surrounding the stone tablets were white wax candles and on the ceiling of the gazebo on a platform rested a large stone statue of an albatross crane. He lightly bowed to the statue and spoke, "I bring guests great albatross crane guardian, I hope you welcome them with warmth and love."
"You may join me in meditation if you'd like, Avatar," suggested Jie Tong gesturing Rong Yan to sit beside him. He grabbed two incense sticks a new one and one that had been burnt halfway and lit them with spark rocks. He gently placed the two of them inside the hanging incense tray, Rong Yan had thought about assisting him in lighting the candles, "Governor Tong, allow me to light the candles around the stone tablets for you," implied Rong Yan.
Governor Tong nodded in approval Rong Yan had pointed both hands at different candles two fingers out and shot small sparks and at all the candles from his fingertips. Lighting all the candles in a matter of seconds, Yong Ten sat to Rong Yan's left cross-legged and began to meditate as well.
Governor Tong had grabbed a kettle and iron bar he dipped the bar into a mixture he had made that has special properties to assist him in communing with his ancestors for advice. He sprinkled it on Rong Yan then ran the bar around the edge of the kettle producing a sound that hypnotized Rong Yan.
The albatross crane that belonged to Avatar Xi. Her name is Tang.
He quickly clears his mind, he finds himself floating in pitch black, suddenly in front of him, a large albatross crane hovers slowly flapping its wings. It was a blinding white color, the creature lowered its neck to gesture the Avatar to ride it. Rong Yan flew over to the albatross crane placing his right palm as he sat down a flash of light had flashed on the creature.
"Tang is that you?" he muttered, he thought to himself how did he know the name of the giant albatross crane but then he realized it wasn't him anymore but Avatar Xi Tong recalling his guardian pet.
The albatross crane boomed a loud squeaking sound before quickly ascending into the air and soaring toward something. The pitch-black were now clouds and grasslands below. They flew to an imitation of Xi Tong village in the Spirit World, Tang landed near a manor with walls the statue in front of it was of Avatar Xi. The eyes glistened again before fading, the albatross crane grunted before lowering its neck telling Rong Yan to speak with the statue of Xi Tong. Rong Yan slides off the neck of Tang and walks over to the statue of his past life.
Avatar Xi Tong appearing before Avatar Rong Yan in the Spirit World.
Small clouds form as a spirit detaches itself from the statue in front of him stood a shorter man maybe about seven heads tall. He had tan-colored skin, his hair was brown and short and worn in a smaller top-knot held by a golden tenshu guan, which was a larger headpiece sort of like a larger sangtuwan but this one covered his whole head it was kind of like a special coronet. This was not held on display in the museum it had to be buried with Xi Tong. He was known as the last king of the Tong dynasty it would make sense to bury him with the coronet of the Tong Dynasty.
It had nine vertical ridges with beads and a golden pin that locked it in place, a small Ba Sing Se insignia carved onto the coronet decorated the front of it. His eyes were a glistening green, he wore a goatee that started at the corners of his lips to the bottom of his chin. Avatar Xi Tong wore a long-sleeved white blouse over the dress shirt was a golden tunic vest with darker golden accents near the shoulders. He wore gauntlets that were cut at the fingers to allow comfort and free flexibility of his fingers, he wore golden trousers and brown leather boots. A golden sash was fastened around the tunic to hold his trousers, the belt buckle was the Ba Sing Se insignia made of pure gold. Yong Ten had opened his eyes from the meditation, Governor Jie had walked in sipping some tea and was startled by what he had witnessed the eyes of the mural of Avatars were glowing. He had dropped the teacup and saucer on the ground. They crashed and shattered. Yong Ten jerks his head toward Governor Tong. Rong Yan's eyes were glowing he was in the Spirit World, likely communicating with one of the Avatars on the mural.
"You. I know you," said Rong Yan pointing at the man before him.
"Yes, young Avatar, I am Avatar Xi Tong, when you made contact with my clothing you called me here," Avatar Xi Tong introduced himself.
"No one believed me about the vision you gave me, how you defeated that regent lord, they didn't even know his name. But somehow I knew," Rong Yan broke in commenting to his past life.
"Future lives are severed from the knowledge that previous lives have experienced, only through the Avatar spirit when we connect with our past lives do we unlock the knowledge. Past lives can share their knowledge of a bending style to a future life but a new Avatar must experience discipline, failure, success, and train for years to be a true master of the four elements," disclosed Avatar Xi.
"It's not easy being the Avatar is it?" Rong Yan asked Xi.
"No, young Avatar it is not, my life was very difficult for me. I was born into a royal family, the Tong dynasty ruled during my time. My father Ku was the 36th Earth King, I was to be the heir to the throne in Ba Sing Se. My father believed that my responsibility of the Avatar could be ignored, my past life ended a war and he believed that the next century could be lived in peace," he began retelling his story.
The gargantuan throne room of the Earth King had men gathered around pleading to Earth King Ku who rested on the throne. Guards surrounded him, and the men who gathered around him were Earth Sages spiritual leaders from all around the Ba Sing Se territory. These particular ones were from the province of Ba Sing Se and were headquartered within the city.
The Earth sages appearing before 36th Earth King Ku on the day of Avatar Xi Tong's sixteenth birthday arguing about Xi's duties as prince and Avatar.
"You have honored my family with the news, Zhuyao. But my son has a responsibility to the throne. He will live the remainder of his days as Earth King, Avatar Mun Jin ended the war before it even started, I can promise you the world will be at peace for another century," claimed Earth King Ku.
"Your highest honor, we do not know if the world will be at peace for another century, we understand the power that Mun Jin had but the Air Nomad Avatar hasn't walked this earth in over 141 years. Just because Avatar Arrluk lived through an age of peace does not mean Xi will too. Anyone can threaten the world as we speak. The Avatar has to master the four elements and protect the nations from one another. You cannot hide Prince Xi from his true destiny," argued Zhuyao the head of the earth sages.
"His destiny is the throne, not protecting peasants in some foreign nation. My son is a prince, not some servant!" Earth King Ku disagreed.
"I urge you to do the right thing, your majesty. We do not know the repercussions that could harm us if Tiandi learns that Xi is to be kept from his duties. He could curse your entire bloodline by casting them into the Fog of Lost Souls to punish you," Zhuyao pleaded with the Earth King warning him that the creator god could curse his bloodline into eternal damnation.
Tiandi the God of Creation, in physical form as mentioned in ancient religious scrolls written by the legendary first Earth Emperor.
"I pray to Tiandi, the spirits, and my ancestors every day, Tiandi made a mistake by giving my son the Avatar spirit," lied Ku, everyone knew that Ku did not worship the spirits he would speak to his ancestors every morning for their guidance and blessings. Tiandi did not make any mistakes, Tiandi was a perfect god he created the world perfectly and assigned the spirits he bore to certain tasks.
Prince Xi gently cracked the door from the east wing slightly open so he could watch his father argue with the Earth sages from the temple. He gasped when he had heard his father arrogantly badmouthed about the god of creation that Xi and his mother worshipped.
"He thought that he could seal me away from the rest of the world, the Earth sages came for me when I was sixteen. They argued with my father and he threatened to arrest them and charge them with treason. I eavesdropped on the entire commotion. That night I left the palace, I laid my crown on the throne of the Earth King and fled to the temple of sages. They gifted me an albatross crane that would transport me around the world and I left to the Fire Nation that night," Xi recalled, he placed on his sangtuwan and locked it in place with the security pin. He grabbed his coronet and snuck over to his father's throne gently placing it on the seat. Xi snuck out of the palace and had ran to the temple grounds.
Knocking on the door, Zhuyao holding a candle had answered the door caught by surprise by his visitor in the wee hours of midnight, "Prince Xi, what a surprise what brings you here to the temple?" he questioned the boy.
"You said my entire bloodline will be cursed if I were to be kept from my Avatar duties. I have renounced my throne and I'm here to flee from home and travel to master firebending," Xi mentioned recalling what he had heard from the conversation between Zhuyao and Earth King Ku.
"You were listening to our argument weren't you, well we planned on bringing bending masters to you in the safety of the palace grounds. But now that you're father denies your blessing we have to send you to the Fire Nation," Zhuyao commented.
They footed it to the stables near the temple where an albatross crane was sleeping. Zhuyao handed a scroll sealed with a wax stamp of the royal Earth sages insignia to Xi Tong and had introduced him to his traveling companion.
"This will be your main form of transportation around the Four Nations as you master the other three elements. An albatross crane, she doesn't have a name yet but I'm sure you two will get well acquainted. Take this scroll with you and seek audience with the Fire Lord in the Palace city, he will assist you in any way he can," Zhuyao asserted patting Xi on the shoulder.
Another flashback, Xi Tong was much older now in his mid-twenties he had walled himself off from the men who were chasing him. One of the mercenaries head-on pounced at the wall risen by Xi and smashed it to tiny pieces watching as Xi ran at godly speeds far from the men.
The scenery changed to a colder one he was sitting in a canoe about to head off with his waterbending master into the ice sheets far from the capital city. A soldier arrived with a scroll sealed with green wax but no insignia on it. He knew this to be from his mother. He read the scroll and let out a deep long sigh. Hanging his head low, his master and grabbed the scroll from him and read it as well.
"We don't have to train today, you can take the day off and recollect your thoughts about your father," hinted his waterbending master they had both sat across from each other on the canoe.
"No. I'm good, my duties are more important to me than my family right now. I can worry about him after I go home," replied Xi. With a bit of concern his master looked at him, "Are you sure?" his master asked, he did not speak a word Xi just nodded in response.
"My father sent mercenaries to capture me and return me back home I fought them off the best I could and fled. Eventually, they stopped coming I had received a letter from my mother while I was in the Northern Water Tribe. Only she knew my true location, from reading the letter I learned that my father Earth King Ku passed away in his slumber just days from now. I never quite forgave my father for being selfish and attempting to keep me from my destiny," Xi told Rong Yan.
"My mother had the power to appoint a regent lord until we could find an heir to the throne. A chancellor of the council that my mother was a head of became the regent lord his name was Baojun. At first, my mother's judgments were well-meaning, he was a benevolent ruler while they looked for the next heir. I was my father's only son, but I had cousins who could take the throne and begin a new dynasty. Each of them rejected the offer, they knew the stresses that came with being the ruler of an entire nation. It was not their destiny nor their responsibility," Avatar Xi Tong continued the story.
"From this day forth until an heir is found you will be appointed Regent Lord of Ba Sing Se, Baojun," Xi's mother appointed the chancellor of the council she placed her scepter on his head blessing him and beginning his regency to the vacant throne. He bowed to her and sat on the throne ordering his now servants and soldiers to carry out his orders.
"As time went on no other heir was ever found, he ruled as regent lord of Ba Sing Se for thirty-three years. Something happened to that man, he kicked my mother out of the palace and began his regime. Everyone who praised him started to resent him, everything in the city began to go wrong, riots, peasants uprising in the streets, high taxes within the city-state. I was in my summer manor living in peace, in the Omashu territory at the time this state was called the Hou Tian province after the capital city. I had received word by a squad of Hou Tian troops that came to deliver the urgent message to me. Ba Sing Se, my home was under attack by its own regent lord," he explained.
"Before saying my goodbyes to my loving wife Hua, and my beautiful twin daughters Bao and Bo I meditated in my gazebo and spoke to a past life that I was close with. We had similar experiences, Avatar Arrluk and I had no similarities even if the only one was being an Avatar. No, I dug further within myself and spoke with Avatar Duryaja, Duryaja conquered the other two kingdoms when they had allied together to take down his. See during the time of Duryaja there was no Earth Kingdom. It was the first Earth Empire ruled by three kings descendants of the legendary Earth Emperor. Ba Sing Se was just a town when he was boy over the years when he left to master the elements he returned to an expanded city ruled by his father. Avatar Duryaja was heir to the Zhou dynasty throne, he was famous for ending the first Earth Empire, ending the Shang and Xia dynasties and allowing them to co-exist amongst his people, he established the true Earth monarchy, and became the first Earth King. He used the Avatar State to build the gargantuan walls that protect my home from foreign threats, those very same walls kept the invaders from killing his people while he and his army battled them outside the walls," Xi noted.
Rong Yan did not know that a past life of his was the first Earth King this was news to him. From what he learned in world history in the Fire Nation academy was the very same thing except it was recorded the first Earth King was just royalty, not an Avatar.
Avatar Duryaja as he appeared to both Avatar Xi Tong and Avatar Rong Yan.
A short stocky man in lamellar armour fastened together to form a cuirass of armor and greaves made up of leather, bronze and iron pieces. He wore a bronze helmet that had black furs decorated inside and outside of the helmet. An iron cutlass was sheathed on his hip, it was clear this Avatar was a warrior. A cloud floated near the ground where he stood, his armies behind him and in front of him, just a mere half-mile from his city were the combined armies of the Xia and Shang kingdoms. A twinkle in his eyes he stepped onto the cloud and soared through the air raising gargantuan walls around the city-state.
The new walls of Ba Sing Se being created by Avatar Duryaja to show his immense power to the Xia and Shang armies.
The legions of troops had roared at their enemy charging into battle after the walls rose he flew overhead in the middle of battle before his soldiers and his enemies clashed. The cloud disappeared and he flew with jets of fire, to distract and intimidate the enemy he did the mighty roar of tigerdillo, large blasts of fire shot out of his mouth, fists, and feet. It was enough to give his men a headstart.
"Duryaja had told me that it will be hard from now on but that I had to fulfill both my responsibilities after I went to overthrow Baojun and imprisoned him. I had risen to the throne and brought my territory to peace becoming the 37th Earth King, my wife was too old to bear more children I couldn't have asked her to bear me a son. I had no heir to the throne my daughters married and left, they too rejected the throne.
I had to balance my Avatar duties with the duties of being the Earth King. It was stressful and difficult but in the end, it was worth it, my youngest cousin had a boy he was named Avanindra he was the heir to the throne. The end of my dynasty and the start of a new dynasty. My oldest daughter years later, bore me and Hua a grandson but I couldn't rip Avanindra away from his birthright. She understood my decision," Xi said after the war had ended and they had both witnessed Duryaja being crowned the Earth King. Duryaja fades into nothing, and Avatar Xi was an elderly man now sitting on the throne. His wife Hua had taken the same position his mother was doing. She had arrived with a younger man, his guards lifted him up and with the scepter his wife carried he blessed the elected official.
"As you may already know I am growing old and the duties of being leader have put too much stress on me. My wife and I have agreed to spend the rest our days in the Hou Tian province in our summer estate. By the power invested in me from this day forth I step down from my throne and appoint you regent lord. You are to step down when Avanindra is of age," announced Xi as he placed the scepter on the man's head bowing to him. The man bowed back in respect, "Thank you for your service, Avatar Xi Tong," the new regent lord thanked the former Earth King.
A guard barges in through the gazebo doors grabbing Jie by the wrist, "Governor Tong, I need to take to the underground bunker!" he claimed.
"What is the meaning of this? What's going on?" Governor Tong responded to the guard.
"Waterbenders are attacking the village, sir. We must protect you and your family, Jing, Wei, and Min are waiting for you in the bunker," the guard said.
"You and the Avatar must come along too," the guard added, Yong Ten was perturbed by the sudden invasion. It is like they were either being followed or they were just random assaults, something's happening in the western territory that he doesn't like.
"We can't move the Avatar, go..I'll remain here protecting his body from the invaders," Yong Ten coaxed the governor and his guard. Governor Tong and his guard fled, men stood outside the walls.
One of the many watch towers dotted around the Tong state.
A watchtower about two miles from the village had seen a small group of men had skulked into the village. A horn was blown, and a bonfire was lit by torch, the squad that was closing in on the village had all turned to look toward the watch tower they had missed on the way there.
The captain of the squad shouted, "Damn! We've been seen, sprint toward the village we must take it before the governor sends his men," the warrior captain ordered to his squad of warriors and waterbenders.
It looked like two squads of men had attacked Xi Tong village but they haven't done their research either. The towers that dotted the outskirts of the village had seen the bonfire lit from the other watchtower and had blown their horns as well. A company of eighty troops began marching toward Xi Tong village stalwart they marched fearless and ready to stamp out the invasion.
They had a few men on ostrich horses some of the ostrich horses were equipped with drums on the side these were the war drummers they were usually used to signal the enemy army that the defending army was coming and warned them to surrender or meet their maker. The flag carriers walked with the banners of the Omashu territory, they carried large poles with green banners.
The squads of northern rebels invading Xi Tong village.
"I spent my last few years in my summer estate with my beautiful wife, but like the cycle of the seasons my time came to an end and the next nation in the cycle was the Fire Nation. My advice to you is no matter how much you love your family, or have dedicated your time to something important in your life. You will always be the Avatar and your duties will beckon you at the most inconvenient of times," Xi Tong finished.
He placed his right thumb over Rong Yan's third eye chakra and his left thumb on Rong Yan's heart chakra, their eyes both glowed, they had returned to the physical world as spirits. They stood over Rong Yan's body and Yong Ten who stood in a defensive stance facing the doors.
"What's going on? Where's the governor?" he asked himself, Xi Tong and Rong Yan teleported outside the village two squads of Water Tribe rebels had invaded the village there was only a section of men fighting with the Water Tribesmen.
"Do not worry reinforcements have been called there is a company of troops arriving shortly to defend my home," Xi Tong assured Rong Yan.
"Come we must return you to your body," he said. They turned into a flash of lights and flew into the gazebo, the bright lights that glowed within the mural dimmed and faded. Rong Yan stood up and walked over to Yong Ten who noticed he had awaken.
"Rebels are attacking the village, we need to help them," Yong Ten spoke.
"I know I saw them," Rong Yan replied.
They ran out of the gazebo and out of the estate to assist the soldiers. Yong Ten grabbed his glider tossing it into the air and had flown off to the battle, Rong Yan ran after him. Yong Ten had hovered above an area slowly lowering himself from the height that he was at and landed on the stone cobbled streets. A team of two waterbenders and two warriors had enclosed him he conjured a dome of air picking up the speed of his arms, strengthening the speed at which the air spun around him quickly. The two waterbenders thought that if they worked together they could bust through the air dome.
One of the warriors stupidly charged at the dome with his club and had spun out of control and dazed off. The other smacked his forehead and shook his head at his not so bright comrade. One of them had bent a large puddle of water in front of him while the other with two fingers of each hand rapidly poked the water whip in front of him. On the other side that face Yong Ten sharp projectiles of ice shot out of it until it decreased in size. The ice projectiles did nothing to dome, Yong Ten had enough and collapsed the dome, the speed and strength of the split dome crashed into the men skimming them a great distance, burns on their body from speed they slid across the cobbled streets.
They laid there in agony from the burns and did not move, columns of earth emerged out of the ground knocking warriors off balance. A team of earthbenders began to raise walls over the some of the paths. It had stopped the warriors in their paths but the waterbenders surfed over the walls on waves, freezing them as they rode in. Warriors had climbed the frozen waves, a large blast of fire flew at a waterbender he chipped ice off the wave he rode over the walls that had recently been risen to block invaders from entering the village twirling the water in front of him and freezing it into an oval-shaped ice shield.
The blast shattered the shield-like glass staggering the waterbender. In a quick attempt, the waterbender swiftly lashes out water out his water pouch and whips Rong Yan in the face. Rubbing his cheek and now in anger, he claps both his hands conjures a torrent of fire that engulfs the waterbender toasting him.
Using his bracers to parry a strike from a warrior club Rong Yan kicks the warrior on the chest pushing him back slightly. The warrior raises his club again to try and swing but Rong Yan shoots fire out of his fingertips at the man's face. Not fast at covering his the man screams in pain. More invaders arrive as they force their waves through the walls exploding them with bombs made by the warriors.
The sound of a horn echoes through the air, one of the soldiers who came from the Tong estate blows his horn in response, the soldier yells at Rong Yan and Yong Ten, "Avatar, flee we can handle it our reinforcements have arrived!"
Yong Ten and Rong Yan flee as told by the Earth Kingdom soldier.
Yong Ten blew on the sky bison whistle, a roar from Jippo as he flew above them, he grabbed Rong Yan from his waist and held him tightly and propelling himself and Rong Yan into the air and landing on top of Jippo's saddle. He ran over to Jippo's head and sat down snapping the reins on Jippo and flying off. Rong Yan peered below to see a large group of men running into battle.
"I don't think we should have left them," he told Yong Ten.
"You heard the soldier, those must have been orders from the governor. It's better this way, we've been distracted too long. Rest now, tomorrow we'll finally arrive at the Jongmu Air Temple," answered Yong Ten.
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